Eliminated Morocco turn attention to co-hosting 2030 World Cup

ATLANTA, July 10 : Morocco proved unable to emulate their semi-final heroics of the last World Cup, again running into a French roadblock as they lost in the last eight on Thursday, but as co-hosts of the next tournament will begin to reset their sights on the trophy.

They had been beaten by France in the semi-final in Qatar four years ago and this time were again outplayed in a 2-0 win for Les Bleus in Boston.

But Morocco’s performances at the expanded 48-team tournament can be judged a success, becoming the first African nation to reach successive quarter-finals, eliminating the Netherlands and giving Brazil a scare in their opening game of the finals in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

There had been some doubts about how they might fare given a coaching change just three months before the final, but Mohamed Ouahbi made a seamless transition into the senior coach role from the junior ranks after leading Morocco to last year’s U-20 World Cup title.

Morocco will now look to the next World Cup with special attention – they will be co-hosting the 2030 finals with Portugal and Spain and are therefore already qualified.

“We have a young team who want to grow, who will continue to do so. We have talented players who will enable us to grow,” Ouahbi said after Thursday’s game.

It would be normal to presume Morocco would stick with their coach and give him time to improve his side, with winning the next World Cup as their target.

But Ouahbi will have to negotiate two Africa Cup of Nations finals in 2027 and 2028 before then and will be only too aware of the tenuous nature of coaching in Africa, where tournament failure invariably leads to change.

His predecessor, Walid Regragui, was hounded out by Morocco fans after failing to win the Cup